September Phil

Another month gone already and again I haven't had chance to prepare my end of month report until the last minute.  Here I am writing this, uploading photographs and backing everything up at 2.30am in the last weekend of the month.  We have finally finished the flat in Giffard and we are here for the winter.  Its only a one bed so we cant put people up here and have to stay in our caravans when we have guests.  This month, just as the flat was ready we seemed to have all our guests arrive just when its getting a little too cold to be camping.  I couldn’t sleep last night because Claire left the central heating on and we are not used to it being warm.  By the time I had wriggled around, got up and switched it off I was ready for my breakfast so just having a piece of toast and a cup of tea while I write this.

So, the flat finished but not much time to stay in it this month so Claire is still getting tangled up in her ironing in the caravan.  Its not because there is not much space in the caravan because it is quite big.  Compared to the flat that is.  Each caravan is actually 56 square foot bigger than the flat but somehow it feels bigger at the flat.  But I guess that we have lost the second bedroom and the bathroom is tiny in a caravan.

Our first house guests, well caravan guests really, were Dave and Eva who we first met in Tenerife while on a time share free holiday.  They had two time shares and offered them both to us for nothing as they are being stung by the maintenance charges.  We got quite pally with them and Eva included us on her friends and family cheap cruise deals as she works for Cunard in Southampton.  They had some great deals on but we were never in a position to take one up with all our goings on at the time.  As soon as we had time the offers stopped coming.  I asked them about it when they arrived and Cunard have discontinued this offer because it was being abused.  Some bright spark was selling these offers in a pub in Southampton and now even Eva doesn’t get the chance of a cheap deal.

Because of storage restrictions we decided to buy some tall 6 draw bed side units from Ikea.  Sounds more like a wild west revolver.  This does increase our storage capacity, but it also means that you have to stand up to take a drink in the night.  Claire likes them because if you  lift the lid, there is a mirror inside the top with a makeup shelf inside.

The flat is busy and full up but comfortable to live in, which is more than I can say for our caravan now that we have transferred my comfy chair and our dining tale and chairs.  We had to take the caravan table and chairs back to the caravan because we couldn’t do without them and they also fit better in the caravan.  This meant yet another trip to Ikea for a new table and chairs but being white gloss and a long thin table it fits in better than the other one. Did I mention last month that I love our new solid oak doors?

Ironic really, as soon as we are able to stop in our flat at Giffard and I could walk to the pub on a wednesday night, we stop going to our normal pub.  This is because Alfy had a cataract operation and it seems (allegedly) that he cocked it up, leaving Alfy with very blurred vision.  He is barely able to drive safely in the day time but has no chance at night.  This has meant that George has been driving since his op.  George and Joan have just been to their apartment in Minorca for the entire month so we have been taking it in turns to drive over to Stoney.  I haven't even had chance to walk to the pub and back once yet.  We haven't been up to full strength this month as Steve has been working away on the South coast.  I hope it wasn’t him selling these cheap cruises in the pub?  Also Chris has been on a motorbike trip around France for the last 10 days.  Anyway, while we have been driving over to pick Alfy up in Stony Stratford, we have been going to the Shoulder of Mutton the entire month which is quite nice and we have settled in.  Alfy even gets the landlords personal jug as they are no longer normally available these days.  Back to full force next month as George and Chris should be back and Steve’s contract has finished very much earlier than expected.  That is one of the risks that you take when contracting, it has happened to me as well but fortunately it doesn’t happen that often.  Its a shame really because Steve was enjoying everything but the distance about this contract leaving his last one to take it.

This month also saw the end of Georgina’s adventures and her return to university life.  I took her to her new rented apartment with her belongings.  Its in south London near the Shard.  The satnav took me right through central London which was a nightmare.  I guess that if we had gone around the M25 and in from the south end it would have been almost as bad and twice the distance as well.  It was a struggle up to the fourth floor and I started to feel my age and weight by the 5th trip.  Its a nice apartment but very basic and it hadn't been cleaned before they started their tenancy.  Strangely, she has the identical Ikea unit that we bought for bedside cabinets except in a wood finish.  Georgina needs a desk, chair and bedding, but its a shame she didn’t mention it earlier because we could have bought it her and took it with us in the car.  Still I suppose it saved me an extra couple of trips up and down those stairs.

Their lounge is also nice but basic and it looks like they too could have done with a new table and chairs.  She is sharing with two of her girlfriends.  They were originally looking for a palace for seven of them to share without success so the other four lads are all sharing together further south.  I guess that there will be a bit of swapsies going on regarding who stays where.

Georgina brought her boyfriend James over to meet us at the caravan and we all went out to my favorite chinese buffet, the Mandarin.  He is a very nice lad and studying sociology at LSE.  They met last year as they both stayed in the halls of residence.  James family live in Nuneaton.

Our next caravan guests were John and Marie who are getting ready for their winter trip.  Well, John is actually going on his own this year.  Marie was supposed to be going with her daughter to Florida but they recently fell out.  Im not sure why she hasn’t decided to go to La Manga with John now that the other trips off.  Marie sold her motorhome and bought a car so John had to buy a caravan and get it towed over to La manger where he will leave it in storage over the summer.  John was scheduled to drive over last weekend but the French workers at the port went on strike so it was delayed by a week.  They waited the week to find that it has been delayed for a further week so they have decided to travel from a different port and drive all the ay through France.  I think they will be on their way today or tomorrow.  Good luck, have a nice winter.  We all went over to Sue’s house for dinner while they were here.  In fact we met Sue through John and Marie originally as Sue used to go to La Manga as well.  More about Sue in a moment.

No sooner had John and Marie left my mum and dad came down for a week or so while their central heating was replaced.  It was lovely to have them over but their stay was a little too long, especially as our caravan is not as comfortable now that we have moved the good stuff to the flat.  It seems much better for all when we meet in short doses.  It was also quite cold and the tv in their caravan was playing up.  For some reason all the BBC channels were very unstable.  Its not the tv as we have used it on many different houses so it could have only been the aerial which I will sort out when we get a moment.  As it rained every day that they were here we didn’t get chance to do much other than go shopping which is not my favorite pass time anyway.  As the plumber hadn’t rang us with his progress on Wednesday as promised I rang him on the Thursday to find that they could go home on the following day (Friday).  Dad was very pleased and I think Claire was as well.  At least now they will have a nice warm reliable house for the winter.

I don’t normally drink coffee much these days preferring tea.  It stopped taking sugar in both 37 years ago today.  What makes you think I’ve been missing it?  I got on fine after a while without sugar in tea but found it more tricky with coffee.  The only way that I could drink coffee without sugar was to take it black as well.  I drank it this way for about 6 or 7 years until someone put milk in by mistake and I liked it better than taking it black.  I have continued taking it this way for the next 30 years until recently someone put sugar in by mistake.  Wow, its so much better when its got sugar in.  Strange really because I cant bear tea with sugar in any more, but after all these years I obviously still prefer coffee with sugar.  Being diabetic its not ideal timing to make this discovery but I have the occasional one now when we have cream available and I use the sugar substitute which I guess is suitable for diabetics.  I’m not a real diabetic anyway, I only pretend so I get free prescriptions. 

I have been a member of the Open University library for over a year now; its the best £40 I ever spent.  Last week I took Alfy with me while I changed a couple of books.  He has used the OU library before when he was doing his research degree which he did with the OU many years ago but it was in a different place then.  We were driving out and I spotted that the old oak tree outside Walton hall had been chopped down.  I hope it wasn’t to make my doors with in the flat.  Anyway, someone has carved into the living trunk which I thought looked great.

Its also been a bit of a month for Sue recovering from her operation.  As her tumor was so large they couldn't perform micro surgery and so had to make large incisions in the old fashioned way.  They didn’t stitch it up in the old fashioned way though and used a modern adhesive.  Trouble is with this method that the wound cant naturally weep any fluids that build up so when they accumulate they swell up like a big boil.  When they burst its like a nightmare though and you require towels rather than dressings.  One good thing is that you can stick it back down yourself with a tube of super glue.  Anyway, after all the trauma that Sue has been through she has finally had some great news; she’s in the clear!  It looks like the operation was a success and that it hasn’t mastitised.  They still have a couple of tests to do like sticking a camera up her bum but the indications are very good so far.  Thats the best news this month and Sue should be able to drive again next week so will be pretty much back to normal soon.  Sorry about the photo Sue but I love it and couldn’t resist using it.  Good job I picked a good moment though.  Watch out for that golf ball!

The other great news is that we are finally in the flat for the winter, except for the odd night in the caravan when we chose, and that I just booked a holiday.  We have two weeks in Fueteventura.  We still have busy schedules but I just managed to squeeze this one in.  We both need this holiday, it seems such a long time since we last got away.  Its the first time that we have stayed on this island as well so thats something to look forward to although I don’t intend to do our usual thing of dashing around everywhere; this will be more of a normal relaxing holiday to recover from all our stress of this year.  The norm on this island is totally nude sunbathing so I must remember to take my good camera with the long lens.  Trouble is, it means that I will only get one Wednesday night where I can walk to the pub and back next month.  We are traveling on a Wednesday which means that I will miss the next three Wednesdays after this first one of the month.  Still you cant have everything.  Of course, this should also mean that you should get quite a few more of my blog entries next month.  I can hear the groans already but I know that you cant wait really.  Have a good one, we intend to.